Every city in India, generates a lot of garbage, and Chennai is no exception. Garbage disposal is a huge problem for most Indian cities, and usually adopt the option of disposing their garbage through landfills, Indian cities don’t usually adopt incinerator, since its an expensive option.

The Hyderabad Corporation decided it is a viable to generate power from garbage. They decided to convert garbage into “pellets of refuse derived fuel, under high pressure” which would be used as fuel to generate power. Now the Hyderabad corporation, decided for some strange reason that it makes sense to separate the pellet making operation and the power plant, this escalated costs and rendered the plant uneconomical.(more…)

Chennai’s galloping real estate prices have ensured that owning a piece of land or even an apartment within (what once used to be defined as) city limits is out of bounds for most wage-earners. Two years back, we did not envisage this boom in the property market when we booked a flat for my brother close to where we have been living for the last 30 years, right in the heart of the city but if we were to go into the market again, we would not be able to afford the same home at current market rates. Such is the situation. It is a telling fact of the effect of investment and job growth in the metropolis that the rate per square foot at places like Velachery and even Kelambakkam have either approached or in some cases exceeded what used to be the rates at prime city locations a couple of years back.(more…)

A recent report in The Hindu said, ‘Urgent steps to save marsh promised’. It went on to say that the State Government would initiate urgent steps to ‘safeguard’ the Pallikaranai marsh according to TPM Mohideen Khan, Minister for Environment. He also said that garbage dumping and sewage disposal into the marsh is a matter of concern (at last!). The State Government will work with the Pollution Control Board, Corporation of Chennai, Tamil Nadu Water & Drainage Board and the Alandur Muncipality in this regard.

It went on to say that Mr Khan, in a detailed report tabled in the House, said that dumping of solid waste and sewage into the marsh and along the roads have caused environmental problems. I would add that the burning of solid waste dumped in the area has caused severe air pollution affecting the areas all around- from Thoraipakkam, Perungudi, Velachary and Alandur. On many nights, there is an unbearable stench of garbage that permeates the air for kilometres around.(more…)

Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi announced in the state Assembly on Wednesday that anybody can register an FIR -first information report – anywhere in city without worrying about jurisdiction limits of police stations. This would help affected persons file a complaint quickly and avoid a considerable amount of running around figuring out how and where to get an FIR registered.
One of the often repeated excuses for not filing an FIR is the jurisdiction limit. People are often told to go to another police station where they may directed elsewhere. Now cops can no longer hide behind such excuses. Such a measure is to appreciated.(more…)

News : Demolition of three floors of The Chennai Silks began yesterday, following the Supreme Court’s decision that wouldnt alter the High Court judgement.

Trivia : I asked my dad… “Isnt this a huge money loss ?”.. My dad had an analytical question as a response. “If Chennai Silks can add Rs. 10 on every garment sold.. How quick can he recover the loss ?”.. Well. pretty quick i guess.

It was a Sunday afternoon. Rather yesterday afternoon. When me and friend suddenly decided to go for Vettayadu Vilayadu. Everyone at home said, we must be out of our minds. We ain’t had tickets. But, we went ahead. I picked him up from Kutchery Road, drove towards Melody. We reach the Clock Tower and the car comes to a grinding halt. We are at the mouth of the General Patters Road, where the theatre is. It is a one way. And no one seems to be observing it. Plus, Melody had only one entry cum exit point. So all the cars and bikes need to wait on the road, until the previous movie gets over and all vehicles cleared out. My friend quickly jumped out of the car to hunt for tickets. He came back with a smile on his face in exactly 30 seconds. And he tells me more tickets are actually been sold in black than in current.(more…)

Yet another hot afternoon. Hot as in stuffy-hot. The busy signal stays busy. 90 seconds of waiting guaranteed at that junction no matter what time of day it is. I walk from that signal onto the road that leads to the heart of the city (as some like to call it). Various streets branch off from this arterial road. On my left I cross one of the many amman temples that dot the area. On my right I notice the neon board that will light up in a few hours to flash GLM Meridian. I walk on past the Thakkar Baba institute and the huge BP petrol station. Yet another junction stops me in my tracks.

Green. Yellow. Red. Man Green. Wait! Not your turn, says the rude cyclist who did not bother looking at colours. Reflexes always up, even when permitted to cross. What’s a red light against the workings of impatience? I cross the junction past the Gujarati Vidyalaya, where are the old buildings? Across sits Temple Trees. I think of Tilo. More accurately of her post on this road, In a stroke of genius, the guy who named the complex combined the two things which made that location special – she wrote in that post.(more…)

I wish Lynne Truss spent a few days in Chennai. On second thoughts, for her sake, perhaps not.
You see, the stickler she is for punctuation, Lynne would suffer an apoplexy in Chennai. Apostrophes and commas and full-stops get the boot in this fair city, mutilating street names, area names and more. So much so, the original names are but ghosts, and not so potent ones either.(more…)

With a booming realestate market in chennai, its a logical fallout that there would be illegal constructions, especially flat promoters who build extra floors illegally. In my street, i remember a case when an entire floor was unauthorised construction and CMDA decide to demolish it, the flat owners went to court and had to get it regularised, because the promoter hadnt informed them that the floors were unauthorised.

To tackle this menace, the Madras High Court issued an order than a flat owner needs a Completion Certificate to obtain water and power connections, which flat owners can demand if they need to know about the status of their flat.(more…)

Today is Vinayaga Chathurthi, a major Hindu Festival. The festival falling on a Sunday, a holiday is lost. Some of the images captured at Velachery this morning which reflects the mood of the festival :